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Some examples of human facial expressions from Georges Louis Leclerc Buffon's Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière : avec la description du cabinet du roy t.2 (1750).
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Some example steps from the production of a twenty color print from Shinbi Shoin's Processes of wood-cut printing explained (1916).
Full text, including all twenty steps, available here.
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A muskox from Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière : avec la description du cabinet du roy  t.43=suppl.6 (1782).
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A lion and unicorn playing chess from James McNeill Whistler's The portfolio : an artistic periodical (1880). From the text: "[...] in the scene on a papyrus in the British Museum of the lion and unicorn playing at chess, though [the lion] is obviously an emblem of royalty, the caricaturist has not aimed at representing majesty. This, however, is of the Roman period, and has probably but little of the Egyptian character."
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Nature illustrations from Shiichi Tajima's Shinbi taikan v.4 (1900) and v.8 (1902).
Full texts here: https://library.si.edu/digital-library/book/shinbi-taikan
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Photograph of stalactites from Bulletin de la Société linnéenne de Bordeaux t.37 (2009).
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smithsonianlibraries · 2 months
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Some quadrupeds from Prosper Alpini's Prosperi Alpini Marosticensis, philosophi, medici, in celeberrimo Lyceo Patavino pharmaciae professoris ordinarii, hortique medici praefecti, Historiæ Ægypti naturalis (1735).
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smithsonianlibraries · 2 months
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Photo of Anna's hummingbirds from Elizabeth and Joseph Grinnell's Our feathered friends (1898).
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smithsonianlibraries · 2 months
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A duck teapot from Hsiang Yuan-pʻien's Chinese porcelain (1908).
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smithsonianlibraries · 2 months
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Exploration of shapes used in Japanese illustrations from Henry P. Bowie's On the laws of Japanese painting (1911).
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smithsonianlibraries · 3 months
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An illustration of a parrot from François Nicolas Martinet's Planches enluminées d'histoire naturelle t.4. Labeled a "Cuban Parrot" in the text, but does not resemble any currently known species of parrot native to Cuba.
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smithsonianlibraries · 3 months
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18th century vase from R.L. Hobson's Chinese pottery and porcelain (1915).
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smithsonianlibraries · 3 months
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Illustrations of a broad variety of flowering plants from Lorenz Oken's Allgemeine Naturgeschichte für alle Stände atlas (1833-1834).
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smithsonianlibraries · 3 months
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"Gems exhibiting phenomena" from George Frederick Kunz's The curious lore of precious stones (1913).
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smithsonianlibraries · 4 months
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A governess and child from Paul Cornu's Galerie des modes et costumes français, dessinés d'après nature, 1778-1787 v.3 [1912].
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smithsonianlibraries · 4 months
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An illustration of a duck by the famed American artist James McNeill Whistler at age four. From Elizabeth Pennell's The life of James McNeill Whistler v.1 (1908). Full text here.
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smithsonianlibraries · 4 months
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Illustration entitled "The Return of Rama" by artist K. Venkatappa from Sister Nivedita's and Ananda K. Coomaraswamy's Myths of the Hindus & Buddhists (1914).
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